July 7 (PTI): Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was today shocked and dismayed by the news of serial explosions in internationally renowned Mahabodhi temple in India, a place of religious significance for the Buddhists.
The Sri Lankan government today asked its citizens to delay their departures to Bodhgaya by a week after the terror attack. “In view of the situation, the pilgrims are warned to delay their departures by a week,” the Sri Lankan government said in a statement.
No Sri Lankan was reported to have been injured in the series of blasts at the Mahabodhi Temple, the government said.
“President Rajapaksa was shocked and dismayed by the news,” presidential media co-ordinator Wijayananda Herath said. The official said the President had spoken to the chief incumbent of the Mahabodhi temple and also directed both the external affairs ministry and the high commission in Delhi to probe and report to him.
Thousands of people from Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka visit Bodhgaya on pilgrimage, the site where Lord Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment or the Buddhahood. Earlier in the year, the offices of the Mahabodhi Society, the administrative body associated with Bodhgaya based in Chennai, came under attack by suspected Tamil elements.
Strongly condemning the attack, RJD chief Lalu Prasad said when Intelligence Bureau had issued prior warnings of possible attack on the temple, then the onus lay with the state government. “They will have to take responsibility for this. Let the investigation happen and truth come out in the open and the elements responsible should be thoroughly investigated,” he said.
Lalu said the incident had brought disrepute to the state on the global stage as internationally people would feel “the temple has not been adequately protected. It is a matter which warrants a probe. The central government and agencies should look into the matter and find out what report IB had given and what action had been taken.”
He sought to know from the chief minister as to what security arrangements had been made for the temple.
“The incident is a black spot on Bihar's reputation. In 15 years of RJD’s rule, such an incident never took place. We strongly condemn it. A wrong message will go that we are incapable of protecting Buddhist temples. People will get scared about coming to this place. Let Nitish Kumar state if he has not received an IB report on this,” Lalu said.
